Hangin out with the stars

  Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Monday, January 14, 2008

KLCC twin towers by night

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J finally sets off on his travels at the end of November, spending a day in Sydney en route to KL, Malaysia.  A month goes by in Malaysia pretty swiftly, with a mix of part time work (on a software project), rest and play.  Spend a lot of time hanging out with Fred and crew as he organises a string of concerts for Karen Kong - his star act.  Beautiful voice and inspiring performer.

Despite reasonable caution, J succumbs to the enivitable stomach bug and spends 3 nights in hospital after eating dodgy food at any one of possibly several dodgy food stalls.  On the plus side, Gleneagles hospital is very nice!  Private room with great view of KL twin towers, round the clock service from nurses dressed in funky star-trek uniforms.  In attempt to restore full health, J tests out Ayurveda massage / potions.  Not so sure about being rubbed down all over in hot oil by camp Indian man, so didn't end up completing the rest of the recommended treatment.

20 Dec - Louisa arrives in KL.  Having settled in the UK, found a job and place to stay, after much deliberation and with the support from new found friends, Jules, Trowllie and Dave, Louisa decides to throw it all in.  A wonderful weekend with the Paul Family in Portsmouth, 5 days at the Ginger Monkey, Richie's and Jimbo's hostel in Slovakia, a stint at snowboarding, a day trip to Poland, flying out from Vienna she comes and joins J in KL.  

While it would have been nice to start our travels right then and there L needed to get her series of recommended vaccinations to travel asia and J had took the opportunity to finish a bit of work and remix a few of his recent songs at a local studio.  Still need to be mastered before they can be released.

Thankfully we have both been to Malaysia before so we managed to make the most of about a month of down time in KL. Geneally good weather and though it rained most afternoons, we only got caught without an umbrella on one occasion!

It's monsoon season don't you know!

Spent a lot of time sleeping, hanging out at Fred's very cool condo, daily swims and frequent running at the gym, balanced by a significant beer intake.  Watched many a DVD from Fred's extensive collection, unfortunately many crapped out 2-3 scenes before the end.  Lots of singing, guitar strumming, new ventures devised and random words created. Regular visits to the numerous malls.  Each bigger and more overwhelming than the previous one. 

We indulged ourselves on a number of special occasions; Hotel Maya managed to impress, with its funky bedroom and bathroom layout, it's cool serene reception and facility areas and the most amazing Japanese meal. A complementary night at the Westin with its unbelievable buffet breakfast, we almost fainted over the sweets store.  Turkey and Lamb for Christmas dinner at an English inspired restaurant...hmm 3 desserts!! Much yummy food at many good restaurants and stalls, our favourite and great find a local Indian place Madras - a very filling vegetarian meal served on banana leaves for $2NZ Okay enough about the food but we do love to eat.

Sushi at KLCC

Had the pleasure of spending a weekend with Aui, Fred's girlfriend from Bangkok.  Could he have finally met his match?

Karen Kong - Rehearsal for NYE concert

During our last couple of days in KL, with a To Do and To Buy list, we hit the malls with purpose.  Finding skincare products without a whitening agent proved our most difficult task and finally with a lot of reduce, reuse and recycle we did well to get our check-in baggage to weigh 15kg (each)- the max limit for our Air Asia Flight to Krabi (Thailand).

And we're off!